PLAYER REVIEW: CARTER KIEBOOM
Age on opening day 2022: 24
How acquired: First-round pick, 2016 draft
MLB service time: 1 year, 86 days
2021 salary: $570,500
Contract status: Under team control, arbitration-eligible in 2024, free agent in 2027
2021 stats: 62 G, 249 PA, 217 AB, 26 R, 45 H, 6 2B, 0 3B, 6 HR, 20 RBI, 0 SB, 0 CS, 25 BB, 62 SO, .207 AVG, .301 OBP, .318 SLG, .619 OPS, 72 OPS+, minus-8 DRS, minus-0.7 fWAR, minus-1.1 bWAR
Quotable: "It's a matter with him of making adjustments. He...
PLAYER REVIEW: ALCIDES ESCOBAR
Age on opening day 2022: 35
How acquired: Traded from Royals for cash considerations, July 2021
MLB service time: 10 years, 3 days
2021 salary: $1 million
Contract status: Signed for $1 million in 2022, free agent in 2023
2021 stats: 75 G, 349 PA, 319 AB, 53 R, 92 H, 21 2B, 2 3B, 4 HR, 28 RBI, 3 SB, 0 CS, 17 BB, 56 SO, .288 AVG, .340 OBP, .404 SLG, .744 OPS, 105 OPS+, minus-4 DRS (at SS), 1 DRS (at 2B), 1.7 fWAR, 1.5 bWAR
Quotable: "Ever since the first moment I...
PLAYER REVIEW: LUIS GARCÃA
Age on opening day 2022: 21
How acquired: Signed as international free agent, July 2016
MLB service time: 1 year, 37 days
2021 salary: $570,500
Contract status: Under team control, arbitration-eligible in 2024, free agent in 2027
2021 stats: 70 G, 247 PA, 236 AB, 29 R, 57 H, 18 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 0 SB, 2 CS, 11 BB, 43 SO, .242 AVG, .275 OBP, .411 SLG, .686 OPS, 86 OPS+, 1 DRS (at 2B), minus-3 DRS (at SS), minus-0.2 fWAR, 0.3 bWAR
Quotable: "He's made...
The Nationals have another opening on their coaching staff to fill after learning hitting coach Kevin Long is leaving to take a position with the Phillies.
Long, the club's hitting coach since 2018, was invited to return in 2022 but was free to seek other employment because his contract was expiring. He chose to join Joe Girardi's staff in Philadelphia, where he'll be reunited with slugger Bryce Harper, a source familiar with the decision confirmed.
Long's departure, which was first...
PLAYER REVIEW: JOSH BELL
Age on opening day 2022: 29
How acquired: Traded from Pirates for RHP Wil Crowe and RHP Eddy Yean, December 2020
MLB service time: 5 years, 53 days
2021 salary: $6.35 million
Contract status: Arbitration-eligible in 2022, free agent in 2023
2021 stats: 144 G, 568 PA, 498 AB, 75 R, 130 H, 24 2B, 1 3B, 27 HR, 88 RBI, 0 SB, 0 CS, 65 BB, 101 SO, .261 AVG, .347 OBP, .476 SLG, .823 OPS, 124 OPS+, minus-1 DRS (at 1B), 2 DRS (at LF), 1.4 fWAR, 3.1 bWAR
Quotable: "This is a guy...
Longtime Nationals coaches Bob Henley and Randy Knorr will not return to the major league staff next season, though both will remain in the organization in player development roles, a source familiar with the changes confirmed.
Henley, the club's third base coach for seven of the last eight seasons, and Knorr, the club's first base coach this season after previous stints as bench coach and bullpen coach, are the only members of manager Davey Martinez's staff who weren't invited to return to...
Predicting how a baseball season is going to play out is no easy task. We've been trying to do it around here for years, and though we sometimes get a few things right, we're usually wrong with much more frequency.
And never have we been more wrong than we were this season.
Not that my colleagues on the Nationals beat were alone in that regard. Seriously, how many of you out there predicted they'd lose 97 games? (If you just raised your hand, you're lying.)
Nobody expected the kind of...
The Nationals aren't participating in the 2021 postseason. And yet, everywhere you look, you find folks with Nationals connections that stir up all kinds of emotions inside you.
Really, they're everywhere. There's Kyle Schwarber hitting Schwarbombs for the Red Sox. Lucas Giolito dealing for the White Sox. Dusty Baker managing the Astros. Mike Maddux coaching the Cardinals pitching staff. Blake Treinen coming out of the bullpen and Steven Souza Jr. coming off the bench for the Dodgers. And,...
At the crux of the Nationals' decision to trade away eight veterans and begin a franchise rebuilding project this summer was an acknowledgment by the front office that its farm system desperately needed to be restocked.
Had their system been filled with more prospects who could step in and take over when veterans either got hurt or saw their skills fade, the Nats might well have stayed the course and made an attempt to continue winning now instead of shifting focus to the future.
But that...
The Nationals entered the 2021 season determined to be a better defensive club after ranking last in the majors in that department during the previous, pandemic-shortened season. And in late July, a quick glance at the sport's defensive rankings showed they indeed had achieved that goal.
On the morning of July 30, the Nationals as a team ranked sixth in Defensive Runs Saved, a massive improvement from 2020. Of course, by the end of that day, their roster looked nothing like it did 24 hours...
A lot of things with the Nationals went wrong this season, horribly wrong. But not everything. And one thing that did work out in the end, surprisingly enough, was a lineup that was productive both prior to and after the massive trade-deadline sell-off.
The Nats ended the season with the highest team batting average (.258) and on-base percentage (.337) in the National League. Their .754 OPS was fourth-highest in the NL, tied with the NL East champion Braves and only five points lower than the...
Alcides Escobar, who enjoyed a career renaissance after joining a Nationals club desperate for healthy infielders this summer, will return in 2022. The club re-signed the veteran shortstop to a one-year contract today, taking care of that pressing matter less than 48 hours after its season ended.
Escobar became an unlikely regular for the Nats during the season's second half, filling in admirably following the trade of Trea Turner (along with Max Scherzer) to the Dodgers as the club began a...
Since taking over as Nationals general manager in 2009, Mike Rizzo has believed in one path to success above all else: Elite pitching. And not just elite pitching, but elite starting pitching.
It was the hallmark of the franchise's eight-year run as a contender from 2012-19. Pick any year the Nats reached the postseason, and you'll find a rotation that ranked among the majors' best.
"Our mantra here has been that starting pitching is the most important thing, and pitchers have to go deep in...
The high point of the 2021 season for the Nationals, as it turned out, came June 30, probably right at the moment Trea Turner slid into third base to complete the third cycle of his career. The Nats were well on their way to a 15-6 romp over the Rays, completing a 19-9 month of June to raise their record to 42-40, standing in second place in the National League East, only 2 1/2 games behind the Mets.
Everything seemed to be right there in front of them, and an exciting second half of baseball...
The outcome of the game was important - to the Red Sox. The Nationals wanted to respect that. And yet there were things the Nats felt they needed to do in this Game 162, whether putting a 23-year-old rookie on the mound for his major league debut, giving a retiring catcher a chance to take the field one last time or giving a potentially retiring franchise icon a chance to depart the field to the celebration he deserves.
So it was that today's season finale played out on South Capitol Street in...
Mike Rizzo wasn't about to put a timetable on the Nationals' rebuilding project to become a contender again, but the longtime general manager seemed to make it clear today in an end-of-season session with reporters that he views this year as the low point in the process, with significant improvement expected in 2022.
"Our goal is to win," Rizzo said during a 25-minute session in the home dugout prior to the Nationals' season finale. "It's to win the division. It's to win the World...
Well, here we are. It's Game 162, the end of a long and winding and eventful but ultimately disappointing baseball season in the nation's capital. If someone told you on opening day everything that would transpire over the ensuing six months, would you have believed it? Probably not.
There is, however, meaningful baseball to be played today on South Capitol Street. Perhaps not so meaningful for the Nationals, but critical to the Red Sox, who enter the day tied with the Yankees atop the...
The Nationals pitching staff enters today's season finale sporting a 4.79 ERA, seventh-worst in the majors. And that number has only gotten worse as the season has played out. Since the All-Star break, the Nats' ERA is a gaudy 5.60, third-worst in the majors.
So as they prepare to evaluate what went wrong this year, and what changes could be necessary to try to prevent it from happening again, the Nationals would be expected to at least consider whether pitching coach Jim Hickey deserves any...
The closest the Nationals are going to get to meaningful October baseball occurred around 7 p.m. tonight on South Capitol Street, as the sun set behind the first base stands, the temperature inched down toward the 60s, and a sellout crowd of 41,465 watched in nervous anticipation as the most feared hitter in the sport stepped to the plate with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth and the home team trailing by a run.
"I love that feeling," Juan Soto said in his Zoom session with...
Gerardo Parra is getting one last shot to finish the season on the field, but it appears Luis GarcÃa's season may have already ended.
Parra was activated off the 10-day injured list prior to this afternoon's game against the Red Sox, with left-hander Josh Rogers placed on the IL with a right hamstring strain. It's a fortuitous break for Parra, who last played Sept. 4 before being taken off the roster with inflammation in his right knee.
The popular veteran outfielder, whose future beyond...